Tark's Stuff

[TarkXT]

Hello hello.

I've lurked for a while but have not ever posted here for a number of reasons content to simply read.

I usually post on the paizo boards and have a number of things there you may have read or mentioned including a few guides a bunch of tactics posts and freelancing work I've done for 3pp.

Recently I put together a blog and consolidated a lot of links on their so I decided to spread it a bit since it's easier now to move around and reference.

The link to the blog itself is here (http://pathfindertactics.wordpress.com/)

Other links on that page leads to:

All the Tactics 101 Articles I've done so far.

The guides I wrote including one for clerics, cavaliers, and one for summoners with a melee persuasion.

A link to most of the freelancing work I've done if such a thing interests you.

Anyway hope people here find this stuff as useful as some have found on the paizo boards. :)

[Corvino]

+1 to this. Tark's Big Holy Book of Cleric Optimization is a very good read, and the tactics articles are no slouch either. If only I could get my group to read them...

[jaydubs]

I've read some of the forge articles. Interestingly, the groups I play with almost always seem to lack anvils (control). There's usually an abundance of hammers (damage) and a few arms (support) scattered here and there, but almost no control types.

[Kudaku]

Good reading! I've read your guides before but I particularly enjoyed the "five misconceptions that will get you killed" - I immediately recognized that my parties has at one point or another been guilty of at least three of them. :smallbiggrin:

[Krakard Vakurt]

Read through some of it (haven't had a lot of time, I will be going through it more (Melee Summoner? Oh hohoho, I wanna try that)) and its certainly worth it. I look forward to you adding to it.

6 thumbs up from a Marilith.

[TarkXT]

I've read some of the forge articles. Interestingly, the groups I play with almost always seem to lack anvils (control). There's usually an abundance of hammers (damage) and a few arms (support) scattered here and there, but almost no control types.

That's a pretty common one to run into. I think it comes from a misunderstanding about the relationship between actions and numbers. People know that the GOD wizard is strong but they fail to understand why he's strong. Casters like that manipulate things to put actions and positioning in the favor of the group letting them put their numbers to the best use.

Groups like that can be fun since combat is always a mad dash to chopping things to bits quickly, but, they do tend to have poor survival rates.

[Squirrel_Dude]

Casters like that manipulate things to put actions and positioning in the favor of the group letting them put their numbers to the best use.I remember playing a high level game a year or so ago, where the party (cleric, wizard, samurai, Monk) were in a fight against a Red Dragon Ravener. Standard fight: The Dragon is swimming around in lava in his volcano home, fighting on platforms, and everyone has resist energy on to protect themselves.


What should be noted is that as the wizard I just buffed the party, and casted Mage's Disjunctions on the Dragon to take down it's buffs. The clerics job (with his travel domain powers) was entirely to simply teleport the samurai around so that it could get full attacks on the dragon. It was a very surreal moment, where it felt like the two casters were playing something akin to chess, with the samurai and monk as pieces.

[TarkXT]

I remember playing a high level game a year or so ago, where the party (cleric, wizard, samurai, Monk) were in a fight against a Red Dragon Ravener. Standard fight: The Dragon is swimming around in lava in his volcano home, fighting on platforms, and everyone has resist energy on to protect themselves.


What should be noted is that as the wizard I just buffed the party, and casted Mage's Disjunctions on the Dragon to take down it's buffs. The clerics job (with his travel domain powers) was entirely to simply teleport the samurai around so that it could get full attacks on the dragon. It was a very surreal moment, where it felt like the two casters were playing something akin to chess, with the samurai and monk as pieces.


In a lot of ways that's a good method to think by so long as each chessmaster realizes every piece is precious. ;)

[TarkXT]

Updated it with the first part about the tactical role of martials. (http://pathfindertactics.wordpress.com/)

I think there's too much focus on what caster's do and martial's can't and not enough on how they actually function within the context of the game.

[TarkXT]

So brief update on the book.

I'm slowly getting through it. Most the hang up is that when I do teaching illustrations it's with a metric ton of art garnered from places made by people for use with maptool. I have no idea who these people are or even if they care.

So that means redoing all the illustrations from scratch with maptool and public domain/creative commons art. Not fun.

So it plods along. I'll see if I can't finish another blog post tonight.

When the ACG comes out I also need to get going on a shaman and an investigator guide. I might do bloodrager too. Don't know yet. Ugh and I have to update the cavalier and summoner guides.

But since I'm here and it's on my mind what would you want to have in a Tactics 101 book?

[jaydubs]

Any tips on how to fight in super narrow confines? I find myself in a lot of single file hallways, or trying to breach rooms where the enemy has a choke-pointed door. And a lot of those times, the guy in front is experiencing "oh crap, I'm getting murdered," while most everyone else is thinking "oh joy, I pass again."

[caimbuel]

You got a hallway, go back to last room, or corner,, then you have them choked up not your group.

[TarkXT]

Sometimes the best thing to do is to just slowly back out. Or if at all feasible push into the room where the enemy is holed up and get more space. Too often people are trying to crowd the front. That being said it's often an advantage to deal with one enemy at a time so long as you're willing to do whatever you can to support that guy at the front.

Right so i made a quick and easy post about mutagens and the ACG for those interested.

Beyond that I'm in some rather dire straits what with a sudden job loss an incoming point of homelessness and a broken computer. So, it'll be a while before I can do anything significant again.

[TarkXT]

Another ACG post. This time about spells. (http://pathfindertactics.wordpress.com/)

[TarkXT]

Things are still rather hectic for me (unemployment can do that) but I have made a couple of small posts to the blog and I'm currently working on a rather large one that will be multiple parts regarding the average NPC Pathfinder soldier.

[TarkXT]

NEw post on defense up. (http://pathfindertactics.wordpress.com/)

First big post in a while. Need to find where the heck I put the outline for the book so I can get back to work on that but things are slowly but surely getting back to some form of relative normality.

[Greenish]

Why are saves a reactive defense, but AC a passive one? Saving throws "require no action on your part to activate and success or failure relies entirely upon the die roll".

[TarkXT]

Because you roll the saving throw in response to that form of attack. Depending on what your capabilities are you can add bonuses to that roll or get a reroll on that roll. You can also choose not to make the roll at all. Though that's extremely rare and circumstantial. Basically it's reactive because most of the choices regarding that roll lie on you. What your character has is not a static number that is pass or fail but a bonus to a die roll capable of failing regardless of how high the bonus is. That makes it slightly better as a model for defense than AC as all the control lies with you.

AC is different. Rather than rolling against an attack that provides a static bonus to fight against you instead provide a number to be overcome. In an attack the roll and decisions on what to do with that roll lie with the attacker. Sure, you could choose to get hit.

[Greenish]

It's possible to get rerolls for saves, yeah, but that's hardly the default, and isn't it possible to force enemies to reroll attack rolls? You can also add bonuses to your AC.

Saves always fail on nat 1. Attacks always succeed on nat 1. I'm not seeing a big difference in who actually rolls the dice.

[TarkXT]

I think you meant attacks always fail on a nat 1.

The difference between passive and reactionary lies entirely between whose holding the die.
The distinction between whose holding the die is the difference between whose abilities are coming into play most often.

Generally it's better for you to roll the die than your opponent. While you can sometimes force a reroll on an opponent or lower those bonuses those abilities typically fall into the realm of offense and force you to push through their defenses in order to make that happen. It's usually easier to use either your own abilities or to have someone buff or use an ability in some form to grant you a reactionary measure of defense than to rely on or force the enemy to roll a certain way. The same goes for offense.

If you don't see the distinction that's okay. The distinction itself is subtle enough and often unimportant enough to not really make any difference at all when it comes to saving throws. Because regardless as to whether or not who is rolling the die it's better not to be in a position where any die is rolled at all to determine your health and safety. :)

[TarkXT]

New post up on a subject that's been a minor fascination to me; that of soldiering.

This first part is regarding basic training and kitting up a green recruit.

Next We'll talk about getting experience and specializing into other and more expensive roles in an army and maybe get into why magic probably isn't used as much as might be believed outside of serious magocracies.

[TarkXT]

So I sat down and did a thing with a mic and made a podcast because writing takes hours and this took about 20 minutes. (https://pathfindertactics.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/first-podacst-5-pathfinder-guides-i-consider-must-reads/)

I talk briefly about things other people have written and wonder what to do with stuff I already wrote.

Also it's Christina Stiles and Misfit Games. It was late and I was tired.

[Peat]

Thanks for the link and big kudos on all your work to date - its a great help.

[TarkXT]

Tactics 101: Opportunity cost (https://pathfindertactics.wordpress.com/)

So, I ultimately killed the book idea.

It wasn't a particularly easy decision since I got so much of it written already. But, I came to the conclusion that when I eventually publish my own book I wanted to do something else.

So, rather than let that work go to waste I'm simply iving it away bit by bit.

At some point I'll compile the house rules and suggestions for making games, specifically combat, more challenging and throw them into a book as that both seems much more marketable and a little bit more palatable than releasing what s essentially a strategy guide.

[TarkXT]

Tactics 101: Risk Assessment (https://pathfindertactics.wordpress.com/)

In which we talk about knowing the risks.